The Darling River fish kill is what comes from ignoring decades of science

The mass death of fish in Menindee Lakes is a disaster that has been a long time in the making. The story goes back to another disaster on the Darling River, a massive outbreak of blue-green algae that poisoned hundreds of kilometres of the river in 1991 and 1992. The outbreak was a dramatic illustration of decades of warnings from scientists and economists that too much water was being extracted from the river.

 ‘Events like the Menindee fish kill bring home the cost of
treating the environment as a cultural battleground.’ 

The first response was the imposition, in 1995 of a cap on extractions. The cap was meant as an emergency measure to prevent further disasters while a long-term policy was worked out. Nearly 25 years later, it is still in effect. The cap is supposed to be replaced later this year by a system of sustainable diversion limits, worked out on the basis of scientific evidence. But a litany of disastrous policy failures, of which the fish kill is among the more dramatic outcomes, cast doubt on whether this schedule can be met.

The sustainable diversion limits were worked out in a massive scientific and economic exercise as part of the Murray-Darling Basin plan, launched by the Howard government in 2007.

Read the story from The Guardian by John Quiggin - “The Darling River fish kill is what comes from ignoring decades of science."

Hundreds of thousands of native fish dead in second Murray-Darling incident

Hundreds of thousands of fish have been killed along a stretch of the Lower Darling River in New South Wales in a second major incident which has led some experts to fear whole populations of local native fish have been wiped out.

 Photos posted on social media of the fish kill at Menindee on the Darling River. 

Residents near the Menindee Lakes are reporting what is the second major fish kill along a 20km stretch of water near Weir 32.

An incident before Christmas saw an estimated 10,000 fish die.

Locals have been posting photos of dying fish washed up along the shores of the lakes which are about 100km east of Broken Hill.

And local fish experts are saying that it could all but wipe out the populations of Murray cod and other native fish, raising serious questions about the way WaterNSW is managing the lakes system.

Read the story from The Guardian by Anne Davies - “Hundreds of thousands of native fish dead in second Murray-Darling incident.”

Ocean heatwave destroys Tasmania’s unique underwater jungle

Kelp forests in Tasmania
 can grow up to 45m tall.

It was one of Australia’s great marine ecosystems; a must-see spectacular on many divers’ lists, sheltering a multitude of fish, algae and crustaceans.

A natural wonder, which this year was smashed into oblivion by a massive underwater heatwave.

This is not the Great Barrier Reef, but its southern equivalent; an underwater jungle that in the middle of last century ran 250 kilometres along Tasmania’s east coast. The trees, up to 45m tall, were Macrocystis pyrifera – giant kelp – the world’s largest seaweed.

Read the ClimateHome story - “Ocean heatwave destroys Tasmania’s unique underwater jungle.”